Regarding Mulgrew, its a difficult situation. I dont think theres anyway that he could play as a left back or midfielder anymore, but its very difficult to leave our captain out. Lenihan and Rodwell have been superb keeping clean sheets but lets be fair, the 2 sides they have faced have been pretty toothless. That being said, they have still been outstanding. When Mulgrew comes back (any doubt and we have the freedom of being able to not rush him) I suspect that the best suggestion would be potentially to move Rodwell forward one alongside Travis.

I know theres a hint of sarcasm here but no one has said he "is shit" but hes somewhat of a liability at right back. The main reason for that is because hes not a right back! He dives in far too much, his positioning is suspect, even this year he was given a torrid time by Harvey Barnes, he played a suicidal pass across the face of his own goal at Newcastle, and god knows what he was trying letting the ball run back to Raya. I think that Mowbray overplays his versatility, for example he certainly cannot do a job as a left wing back as he was expected to play on Tuesday, but hes got a good attitude so he gives it his all which I admire but you need more than that. He should only play in midfield (if theres no alternative at right back then fair enough) and thus he should only get into the midfield on merit, and not be an automatic pick. If we want to progress, we need to be ruthless enough not to automatically start players solely on character. I have been criticial of his attacking contribution many times before, there have been spells when he hasnt assisted and his goals tally has been poor in the last year and a half, but in the last few weeks, there has been the cross at Newcastle and the pass yesterday as mentioned, as well as an excellent pass for Armstrong at Millwall. Therefore I would suggest he would be right up there in terms of picking the 2 wide men.

Lambert is a genius, sadly for you not in terms of management, but in terms of manipulating the media and speaking to convince people that the situation is entirely unmanagable, thats theres nothing he could have done, and to make people praise his "honesty." In retrospect, he did it perfectly here. The job he did was entirely underwhelming, the football was poor, his transfers were mixed, and he spent the whole time deflecting blame and complaining. We will never know if his demands were reasonable but he played a blinder. He knew Venkys were hated by the fans and he announced that he was leaving 2 games before the end of the season. Amidst the revolt towards the owners, Lambert left as popular as hed ever been for "standing up to the owners" after an uninspiring time in charge with his reputation intact. He then went on to manage Wolves, Stoke and now yourselves and his knack for blaming all the reasons under the sun (dodgy owners and lack of investment usually) have remained strong as results on the pitch have been poor. On paper, some of his signings are potentially good albeit risky, with Judge and Collins both good at this level but also massively injury prone. His win record is Hurst level poor, which is why I am amazed that he is seemingly so well liked down at Ipswich, especially with his Norwich connections. Watching your team today and the insistence to play it out from the back with Collins and Chambers was baffling, and Mowbray was right, if we hadnt have been so tired after Tuesday im sure we would have robbed them of the ball deep even more than we did. I get the feeling that Ipswich fans relationship with McCarthy as a person (telling fans to fuck off was for me very much giving what he got) has left them unwilling to accept how good a job he did amidst a backdrop of penny pinching and lack of investment. You have a big, tall team but for me it seems like your fans would rather try to play "attractive football" even if it means worse results. Judge on set pieces, no risks at the back and going long would seem to make more sense than the senseless tactics I saw today from your team.

I think both teams were miles better than any one else in the league of course. They undoubtedly deserved their title too as a league is won over 46 games, but to add a bit of context in terms of comparison, our adaptation period was far more traumatic to League 1, with their squad having far more experience of being there. It took a dozen games (and 4 losses) for us to settle into the league. Dack had niggly injuries, Graham wasnt fully fit, Lenihan had a long term injury, and Mowbray was struggling to settle on his best team, hence the likes of Caddis and Ward making regular appearances, with Samuel and Antonsson up front. I may have got my perception of last season a little muddled up but we was at one stage 12 points behind Wigan (and Shrewsbury) and made 9 of those up in the final 3 quarters of the season. I personally would take our team over theirs. It frustrates me when Mowbray feeds the suggestion that we are doing well for a promoted club as he did last week by calling us "a league one side." I feel like it was an over simplied (although I suppose unarguable!) statement on last seasons side alone with the likes of Mulgrew, Graham, Evans, Bennett etc all Championship players, not to mention Dack. But he had 10m to spend further in the summer so it is a negative reflection on him if he wishes to suggest that is the case. Most of that money was spent on someone who has not shown any signs of improving that squad. Palmer has already returned, Davenport is forever injured. Reed, Rodwell and Rothwell have improved our options to varying degrees. Armstrong obviously was here last season.

I dont think thats a decent barometer at all considering the difference in resources that the 3 clubs have. I think its a lazy, commonly used statement. Rotherham and Wigan dont have a mid table wage bill, they didnt have 10 million to spend in the summer either, far from it. To add meat to the bones, our season in League 1 was very much a one off, following a particularly catastrophic managerial appointment. We kept our key players, spent around 2m (Dack, Samuel, Bell, Gladwin, Hart) and once a sense of normality returned (Mowbray) and we got over the initial shock we romped to promotion. We then spent a further 10 million on more players in the summer. He also has the advantage of a Premier League standard academy (the likes of Raya, Lenihan, Nyambe and Travis all key members of our team) and within the financial restraints previous managers have had to deal with, high earning bits of quality have managed to be kept.(Evans, Graham, Mulgrew) Both Rotherham and Wigan had recent spells in League 1, and far less resources to invest in their squads. Thats not to downplay the progress we are making, or to suggest anything other than Mowbray is doing a good job. I just dont think thats a fair barometer.

It was intended to prove that it is far from impossible to improve a Championship side in the January window. For what its worth I feel that the majority of signings on that list would improve us. One or two are blatantly unrealistic (Casilla a prime example) but quite a few would have definitely been welcome additions. I suspect any budget may be minimal due to the Brereton deal.

Criticism of Bell is not due to people setting unrealisticly high standards of him. Defensively, he allows wide men to get crosses in far too easily, and is very half hearted in preventing them. Going forward, he is undoubtedly quick but is so reluctant to take full advantage of such an attribute, even when space opens up in front of him he very rarely does anything but pass it to the side or slow play down. Technically he is very poor and on the occasions that he does find himself in advanced positions, his crosses are almost universally poor. He was much improved in the second half (untested defensively but more prominent on the ball) and put in a teasing ball at the end of the first half but in general we do need better and he is the weak link in our team.

For me the right back role is an easy decision, we only have one natural there! As you say, Bennett is being shoehorned in. He should be in midfield or on the bench. Great pass but never a right back. Rodwell is a conundrum. Mulgrew has to play, Rodwell and Travis would be an interesting combination ahead of them. Its Travis AND another for sure...

Yes. Villa have spent 7m on a Croatian international keeper in Lovre Kalinic and Leeds have brought in Real Madrid sub keeper Kiko Casilla, 2 teams that desperately needed improvement in that position. Boro have signed Rajiv Van La Parra on loan, a proven quick winger at this level, and Millwall have signed Ben Marshall, 2 wingers with proven track records in a position we need that I would have liked to see sign here. Ipswichs signings have been hit and miss with crap like Keane, Elder and Dawkins, but also James Collins, Alan Judge and Colin Quaner, 3 players who undoubtedly improve the spine of their team, albeit with the rest of the team its pissing in the wind. Bristol City have signed Kasey Palmer on loan who has had an impact straight away there, gettin g the winner last weekend. Preston were desperately in need of bodies, 2 of their new signings in Potts and Stockley had a big impact in a very impressive win today. 2 very impressive players in the lower leagues. Sheffield United have added Dowell from Everton and Gary Madine to give them more attacking options in their promotion push. Wigan have signed Anthony Pilkington who was crucial in their win v Villa last week, and West Broms signing of Holgate is a very shrewd one. Of course its always difficult to sign the right players, January is a particularly difficult month. But that is no excuse, I've given plenty of proof that potential improvements ARE out there and we CAN improve the squad if we have the finance and also if Mowbray is shrewd enough. I suspect that spending 7m on one player who has started one league game and has yet to score is always going to cause major strain on the budget. Maybe the pot is dry. We need at least a left back and a winger to come in. Theres a squad with a core of vital experience and a growing pocket of talented younger players supplementing them, but there is weakness within the side that needs addressing for us to really kick on.

Good win v a terrible team whose fans derided McCarthys style and love Lambert despite naively trying to get Collins and Chambers to play the ball out, with horrendous results, but hey he did pay for away travel! First half performance was shocking by us, constantly lumping it and playing it into their hands (or heads) with a total lack of energy after Tuesday, Second half we played it on the ground more and were far better and deserved to win. Our obvious weakness is at full back, Bell did improve second half to be fair and Bennett did fire a wonderful pass in the build up to the second goal, but his indecision nearly cost us one in a mix up with Raya, and I feel like Nyambes exclusion is unfair solely to shoehorn Bennett in somewhere. Centre backs were very impressive. Lenihans distribution at times was poor but he is a warrior, and Rodwell was superb. Big conundrum when Mulgrew returns, I'd personally consider Rodwell and Travis in central midfield which would have a good blend of tenacity and composure. Deserves a longer deal. Moving on to Travis, he again was outstanding, his energy, composure and desire to look forward make him an automatic pick for me. Evans was pretty tidy alongside him, Reed wasnt that good and looks fatigued to me. Armstrong was pretty quiet first half but in the second half he was unplayable. His pace and directness are now being coupled with more of an end product. Glad to see him coming to the table after a poor start to the season. Dack had a quiet game, should have done better with his chance in the first half, but a couple of bits of quality in the second almost leading to goals. Graham nullified by counter-productive tactics but ice cool from the spot. Subs had a big impact too. Rothwell was much improved, he was a constant threat and deserved that goal when his shot hit the post. Nuttall has to be ahead of Brereton now, his game is far from complete but he has a knack of being in the right place at the right time. Still think we need 2 or 3 additions, something else going forward (a wide man) and a left back are definites, and the play offs will be beyond us IMO but green shoots showing in the last couple of weeks, the form of the likes of Travis and Armstrong being very promising looking forward.

Certainly needs to be more drive in terms of continiously signing players to improve. Dishing out contracts to the likes of Williams and Smallwood as "rewards" for promotion is totally sending out the wrong message. I agree on Bennett and Smallwood too. Mowbray overstates Bennetts versatility as he has shown really that he cannot play as a right back, and I'm even more sure that he cannot play left wing back. He is a midfielder, and one who should be chosen on merit dependant on form etc rather than at the moment where he is one of the first names on the team sheet, with the form and availability of the others chosen to pick the team determining where he actually plays! Both Bennett and Smallwood have parts to play going forward and are very good to have around due to their characters, their experience and the trust Mowbray has in them but if they remain automatic picks regardless then we will struggle to progress much further in the near future.

Whilst obviously mentality plays a key role and shocks can happen, there is no reason not to be frustrated, annoyed and dissappointed at anything other than 3 points tomorrow. You need to be targetting no less than maximum points when playing bottom of the league at home in any league. You mention the unpredictability of the league and you are right but there is plenty of crap near the bottom, of which Ipswich are bottom of.

The thing is, there isnt quantitative data as to how much the scheme of offering surcharges makes or loses the club because we dont know how many other people have decided against attending due to the raised price on the day. Saying x people still pay the surcharge therefore it isnt putting people off is factually incorrect, it doesnt prove anything as no one has argued that the surcharge has or will cause a total absence of matchday sales. The whole "we like to know in advance how many people are going" argument goes in the face of any sort of desire to get as many people in the ground as possible, and makes it seem like loads of people deciding last minute (which in many occasions will be the case) is an inconvenience rather than a bonus. I dont really get the argument that it is "fleecing" fans as obviously if people are willing to pay extra theyd be stupid not to charge it in a way. The whole crux of the argument centralises around those people who are offput on the day by the increase, not around those who do still go in spite of it. It also doesnt justify it that other clubs also charge it. I find their policy equally as puzzling, except I dont really care as it doesnt affect us.

Whilst I do agree that he can perhaps consider himself unfortunate not to have played more minutes, especially considering the alternatives. And I do agree that we are sadly short of flair and creativity. I remain unconcinced that Rothwell is the answer at the moment. You compare him to Brereton and you can at least see raw ability, hes quick and he can beat people, theres definitely something there. But hes yet to be sculpted into a particular position, ive read that he sees himself as a central midfielder but id never trust him there, he needs to be in the final third where his risks are more likely to be rewarded rather than cost us going the other way. But the more hes played, the less convinced I become. Im not too sure hes had a particularly positive impact in admittedly mainly cameos, hes yet to score or assist (unlike Palmer who was derided in comparison) and hes just continiously run into blind alleys, often in dangerous areas. The Sheff United game was a prime example of why I can understand Mowbrays distrust.

Not necessarily true. We have conceded 18 goals in the last 15 minutes of games according to Sky and are right up there in the points thrown away table.

Good, constructive argument.

Both are shite but Bell is the worst of the 2.

Raya Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Williams Travis Evans Reed Dack Armstrong Graham Subs: Leutweiler, Downing, Bennett, Rodwell, Conway, Rothwell, Nuttall Don't want Bell near the squad, Bennett anywhere near the right back position and I don't think Brereton warrants a place in the squad either. Bench shows how we DO need reinforcements no matter how much its played down.

It was patched up but made far more unconvential by Mowbrays spontaneous decision to change to a formation that left more square pegs in round holes than round ones! So yes sympathy with the injuries and illnesses but equally he deserves criticism for playing the system he did. The gap between Bennett (who couldnt overlap being on the wrong side) and Bell was very troublesome. You mention Brereron, you say you think he will look good, I ask the same of @DaveyB is that literally just blind hope? As age alone is not enough to suggest potential. What does he offer? Very fair post otherwise.

Your obsession with demeaning Graham is affecting your view. He certainly doesnt warrant us giving him a run in his favourite position. You look at Graham, he is strong, he is a good finisher with a record of scoring goals, he is intelligent especialy in terms of his hold up, hes good in the air. You seem quick to discard his contribution even last night but even if he hadnt have done anything else (he did, with plenty of direct balls lobbed up to him again) his contribution was key solely with his excellent hold up and pass for Armstrongs goal, and he almost replicated the feat (via Conway) if only Dack had put away that chance in extra time. Armstrong and Nuttall (never a wide man though!) have also shown far more to suggest that even if Graham is unavailable, they should be ahead of Brereton in the pecking order. And Brereton went off to a solely positive reaction which no one has mentioned, clapped off, no one was hurling rotten tomatoes at him as you may expect reading how people think hes been treated. I heard Mowbray say about Nuttall that he might need to go out and play first team football where the fans "will be cheering him or booing him" which I thought was right but also applies to Brereton, albeit not that extreme. When any player hits a good chance out for a throw in, puts a 5 yard pass in to touch or steps over the ball when a shot was on, the crowd will naturally groan regardless of the player and you need to have thick enough skin to get through that, but its certainly not abuse. And @Bigdoggsteel you mention social media, hes not going to see the official club tweets but I agree that a mindless minority of idiots abusing him on Instagram (dont have it myself so havent witnessed it) is out of order and he may be better off removing his account. But believe me, at the ground everyone is willing him on and clapped him off yesterday.

Dont see what the last 18 months has to do with judging the Newcastle game last night in isolation. Small steps indeed, but some of the steps Mowbray has taken with recruitment are not forward steps. Promotion and signing Dack are more than small steps. The injury/illness list is a valid point but likewise the criticism of the formation is just as valid. There was no need to add further chaos, imbalance and confusion to a patched up defence. There is also a lot of valid debate and criticism over 2 of Mowbrays signings in Brereton and Bell who again were really poor IMO and I seemingly am not on my own with that opinion. Obviously the team spirit Mowbray has fostered was again there for all to see yesterday and something we are all grateful for.

Thought Mowbray got it totally wrong today with his bizarre tactics. He said they were a last minute, untrained choice based on Rodwells late pull out which makes it even worse, to overcomplicate it as he did. We were 2 down before we knew it and showed good character to come back before the game hit a lull, Raya made the mistake he did and before we knew it we were lucky to only concede 4 as extra time progressed. Raya has obviously essentially cost us the game, pitiful for the third and should have done better for the 4th. It made no sense to play 3 centre backs last minute. Bell was shocking there which was understandable, when he went to full back his horrendous shocking came to the fore. Nyambe is also never a centre back in a million years. Lenihan did his best to organise a makeshift defence, good goal and should have scored another, not the best on the ball but he was far better than anyone else back there. Bennett had another shocker, was handicapped on the left but hes really poor as a right back as we know. Reed wasnt his self either in that role. Thought Smallwood was his limited self and Travis was much sloppier than he has been, still a breath of fresh air in there. Graham was outstanding once again, delighted to see Armstrong hit some form too, lovely goal from the pair of them. Brereton started brightly with a lovely cross, then went back to shite, couldnt control the ball, make a pass and missed 2 sitters, a header and a woeful finish. Subs wise, Dack wasnt his usual self and should have scored, Rothwell was as per usual a dog chasing his tail without anything substantial in his brief cameo, Conway was poor and Nuttall is far better than Brereton but never a winger. I would say as individuals there was more bad than good but there is at least a great spirit within the squad which can make us proud.

Surely if we are being pedantic, Downing has yet to leave ("next day or two") and the team was slightly off on Saturday. (IIRC correctly Armstrong was in, albeit so was Nuttall) ?

I think 14th place is ok, I certainly dont think we are underachieving, nor overachieving for that matter. I would have been content had that been offered in the summer with the resources at our disposal, no more. I am happy with the job Mowbray is doing, I have said many times that I worry about his recruitment and dont feel hes progressed the team much with a very healthy summer budget (which has to surely cause a change in expectations), and I also would like him to show far less loyalty to players along the way who come up short to allow us to progress. That being said, theres certainly a pride in the shirt again and hes done a good job overall culminating in promotion last season.

If Waggott chose to spin any potential crowd tonight to be proof that lowering prices has little to no impact then that would be naive and foolish. The main deterrent I would suspect is the fact that it is a night game, even some season ticket holders cannot attend, especially those with kids. Add to that the fact that its on TV and paint it how you want, those two are major factors in limiting the potential crowd. Im looking forward to going down as per usual but I also appreciate that a freezing cold night against a second string Newcastle side isnt going to cause a sudden rise in sales.